financefandomcom-20200213-history
Finance talk:Brainstorming
Readers and contributors I was just looking at the Main Page Draft; I really like it. The split between "I need help", "I need advice" and "I need ideas" sets up everything that a reader needs to know about the content. It's a very clean design compared to most Wikia, with all the stuff that usually clutters up the front page pushed down below the fold. Turns out you can have white space on a wiki; who knew? It looks great. I love the quote at the top; it's very forward-looking and inspirational as a credo for the site. It does occur to me, though, that it should be "money earned and money saved", rather than the other way around. You have to earn the money first, right? So I think the big question is: Who are the contributors going to be? The reader that's being targeted is somebody who needs help, and that person isn't necessarily going to be able to add information. So who are the contributors, and what motivates them? After all, writing for a wiki is work, and I have to assume that the people who know enough about finance to write for this wiki don't usually work for free. :) They want a return on their investment. So there are three things that I can think of that motivate wiki contributors: *Showing off. In my opinion, this is the #1 reason why people contribute to wikis. People are programmed to want status. On a wiki, you get status by knowing a lot about the topic, sharing what you know, and fixing other people's mistakes. People love to show off, and wikis tap into that need. *Meeting other people. Contributors like meeting and working with other people who share their interests. I think that's why wikis about TV shows and video games are doing well; they're like little fan clubs. *Revenge. Okay, maybe that word is too strong, but on Finance, there could be a lot of contributors who have had bad experiences with some aspect of the financial world, and they're here to warn other people. You want people who are passionate, and you can't beat the passion of somebody who just got scammed and wants to tell the world about it. So I don't know what there is in the world of Finance that makes people angry -- paying taxes, credit card scams, predatory lending -- but something like that might help to bring people in. I'd be interested to hear what other folks think. What would motivate somebody to contribute here? I know that there are people who are "into" Star Wars, or NASCAR. Who's "into" Finance? -- Danny (talk) 14:13, 5 April 2007 (UTC) :Thank you for the comments on the design -- I'm still tweaking it, but I think it's working well so far. I don't want everything below the fold, so I may try to make the images shorter. As far as "money saved and money earned", I was a) trying to echo "penny saved, penny earned", and b) I guess I was thinking in terms of "earning" in terms of investment earnings, so save first, then earn. :) :As for who our contributors are, I agree with your points. The "show-off" factor is probably our best motivator. One possible tactic I thought of, to attract finance writers, is to use the RSS-to-Wiki feed and allow people who already blog about finance to contribute here and then have a feed of 3 or 4 headlines from their own blog added to the bottom or side of the page somewhere: feeding that "expertise" factor. But that might also encourage territoriality about articles, which isn't the wiki way... :I don't know. If we can get a small handful of them engaged, it will probably build on itself from there, I just don't want to start it off on the wrong foot. :And revenge -- we'll certainly attract those with an axe to grind, for good or ill. And we certainly do need to address things in the financial world that hurt people! — Catherine o' the ComTeam 01:56, 6 April 2007 (UTC) ::I've heard people talking about putting RSS feeds onto wikis, but I'm not familiar enough with it to understand how it would work. Would they just be links to the other blogs, or would the articles actually be posted here? If they're posted here, is there a way to mark them as a separate section? ::It sounds like a great idea, getting people with finance blogs involved. I guess those are the "finance fans". :) What kind of people are they? I know precisely nothing about this world. Do they work in finance for a living? -- Danny (talk) 14:48, 6 April 2007 (UTC) Musings While I was deliberating over Finance Wikia, I had prepared a small write-up. I would like to share some sections of the write-up. QUOTE ;The Wiki-Pages The Finance Wikia is expected to contain many pages, number yet to be quantified and any guesstimate is also not possible right now. However, over the next few months, many pages and topics are expected to become active, and as every individual has some points to share about Personal Finance, the community is expected to become vibrant sooner than later. In the long run of one to two years, the Finance Wikia is expected to cover most of the topics relating to financial world and may run into several hundred good articles, and several thousand pages dealing with a variety of topics covering the basics of money matters, business world, stock and commodity trading including futures and options and all genres of derivatives, personal loans, mortgage loans, Savings and Checking accounts, Equity Investments and Investments through the medium of the Mutual Funds, Real Estate and Bullion, Antiques and many other types of investments and savings. It shall also have pages dealing with day-to-day management of funds, all types of cards, insurance products, retail banking products … and the list is endless almost. However, there shall be a difference compared to similar information available elsewhere, which a person may access through the print media or by accessing the web pages. The Finance Wikia shall be by the people, for the people, and of the people – that is, it shall not attempt to sell a product to our user, our user shall not be led to buy any financial product or services. She/he shall be the free to share her/his experience, and draw on the sum total of financial experience of the mankind to decide the Best course of action and the Best Investment, the Best Buy, the Best Expenditure, the Best Mortgage, the Best Insurance, the Best Loans, – in short, the Best Financial Products and Services that would best serve his/her requirements. As any wiki is subject to change at the shortest possible interval, the purpose of the Finance Wikia shall also remain to a great extent dynamic to serve the (changing) aspirations of the editors and users who shall form the Finance Wikia Community. However, the general style of sharing any topic and issue from an angle of personal insight and experience would largely continue. ;The Main Page *We may give a caption at the Main Page with a section head like: *Welcome to Finance Wakia – the sum total of human experience and knowledge about Financial matters and issues for you and by you *Let Us Come Closer :Let us come closer and share our experience and insight on the matters of personal finance. Let us build a treasure of information for our community and for the general users of Finance Wikia to manage their money well and with confidence. *Please remember :Finance Wikia is by the people, of the people and for the people (these well known words may be substituted, if so required) . Let us come closer to build a Wikia which is the sum total of human experience and knowledge of financial matters. (These are only indicative, and better words may be used) UNQUOTE When I saw the brainstorming page active, and Catherine's comments followed by other comments, I remembered the old write-up. Yes. We have to give a new direction to Finance Wikia and make it really useful for people in need of financial help. Thanks. --Bhadani (talk) 19:42, 30 March 2007 (UTC)